Family Support News Brief
The Family Support News Brief covers topics like Parents as Teachers model fidelity and training, strengthening families protective factors, prevention of child abuse, childhood injury prevention and more.
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2022-2023 PA PAT Year in Review
Despite challenges related to areas such as staff recruitment and retention and securing resources for families, Pennsylvania PAT programs managed to establish and maintain significant relationships and connections with families. Three organizations became Parents as Teachers affiliates in the 2022-2023 year. Thirty-eight are recognized by Parents as Teachers model developers as Blue Ribbon Affiliates.
2021-2022 PA PAT Year in Review
Pennsylvania PAT programs continued to be responsive to families’ needs during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in FY 2021-2022. While many in-person visits and group connections were held in place-based settings, there remained an ongoing need for virtual service delivery options which maintained fidelity to the program model.
Family Support Webinar Recordings
Creating Strengths-Based Messaging for Family Support
February 2024
Promoting Family Leadership
January 2024
What Keeps Families Enrolled in Family Support Programs?
November 2023
Refresh Your Resources
August 2023
Equity Through Language Access
February 2023
Family Support and Mental Health Services
November 2022
Partners
Childhood Begins at Home
Childhood Begins at Home is a statewide campaign to help policymakers and the public understand the value of evidence-based home visiting and support public investments in the programs. This group and its members were successful in its goal of increasing investment in evidence-based home visiting by $15 million in 2022-23, based on the Childhood Begins at Home campaign website. The Pennsylvania Parents as Teachers (PA PAT) State Office is a governing campaign member.
Family Center Network
In 1992, the Pennsylvania Departments of Education, Health, and Public Welfare (now Human Services) were charged with creating a new level of integration, coordination, and enhancement of services for Pennsylvania’s children and families. In pursuit of this goal, the departments developed the Pennsylvania Community-Based Family Center Initiative as an efficient way to provide needed supports and community services to help families and their children.
Pennsylvania Community-Based Family Centers implement the PAT program and build on the Strengthening Families™ Protective Factors framework to realize positive outcomes for families and their children in improved health, education, and economic self-sufficiency. Family Centers address the unique needs of the communities where they serve which can include programs that promote adult education, family literacy, fatherhood programs, family and individual counseling, youth development and afterschool programs, employment and training assistance, supporting families with substance abuse issues, and parent leadership opportunities. Many Family Centers work closely with their local court systems, Centers of Excellence, probation offices, and county children and youth agencies.
Pennsylvania Family Center Network is comprised of Family Center representatives from each of the four regions of Pennsylvania where Family Centers are located. Members of the network share experiences and best practices and advocate for Pennsylvania Community-Based Family Centers as a resource for families in communities.
Institute for the Advancement of Family Support Professionals
Institute for the Advancement of Family Support Professionals offers professional learning including certification courses for home visitors and family support professionals. In collaboration with national home visiting models, they developed the National Core Competency Framework. PAT has adopted this framework for use with PAT program staff. The National Parents as Teachers Center partners with the Institute and the National Home Visiting Coalition to create Rapid Response Virtual Home Visiting, a series of resources for evidence-based home visiting programs.
National Home Visiting Coalition
National Home Visiting Coalition is a diverse group of organizations committed to the well-being of children. The Coalition to promote continued federal support of home visiting to strengthen families in communities across the country. The organization works to promote home visiting as a valuable service to families addressing maternal and child health outcomes, parenting supports, and family stability.
Early Learning Standards
Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood-PAT Curriculum Crosswalk
Pennsylvania’s Learning Standards for Early Childhood are research-based according to age and development and form the foundation for curriculum, assessment, instruction, and intervention within early care and education programs. For those using the PAT Curriculum, showing the alignment between Pennsylvania’s Learning Standards for Early Childhood and the PAT Curriculum is important. Selected PAT parent-child activities and parent handouts are shown in a crosswalk document* demonstrating connections between the PAT curricula and the standards.
*View Infant/Toddler Curriculum Alignment (PDF) or Pre-K Curriculum Alignment (PDF) crosswalk document.
For more information about Pennsylvania’s Learning Standards for Early Childhood and access to materials you might find useful in your work with families, visit the Pennsylvania Department of Education webpage.